Two UC Merced literature professors have launched the campus' first online literary journal through University of California's eScholarship.
Professors Ignacio López-Calvoand Cristián H. Ricciwill publish next semester the first edition of ” TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World,” a peer-reviewed and interdisciplinary journal of Luso-Hispanic and U.S. Latina/o literary and cultural studies
The editorial board includes professors from Harvard, Penn State, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, University of Minnesota, Georgetown University, University of Liverpool, and several other scholars from the University of California's sister campuses.
After having worked together on a book about Israeli and Arabic literature written in Spanish, the two professors decided to expand the study of peripheral cultural production by starting a journal. Beyond providing a forum to discuss and explore ideas, the journal will also bring international visibility to UC Merced's Graduate Program in the Humanities.
“We are also excited about the open-access policy of our journal,” López-Calvo said. “It will be free for everyone, including people in underdeveloped countries, where this cultural production is often produced, and whose universities don't have the funds to pay for expensive journals and books.”
López-Calvo and Ricci see the journal promoting the study of marginalized areas of Luso-Hispanic cultural production of any period. They also welcome relevant interdisciplinary work, interviews and book reviews, as they relate to “South-to-South” dynamics between formerly colonized peoples. Although the journal is mostly devoted to noncanonical work, it will consider articles that rethink canonical texts from postcolonial and transmodern approaches.
Dr. Cristián H. Ricci is an expert in literature of the Hispanic world, particularly Spanish literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is also an expert on Maghribi literature.
Dr. Ignacio López-Calvo's primary area of study covers 20th and 21st Latin American narratives and cultures, with an emphasis on the cultural production by and about Asians in Latin America.
